Eington



2 vSheets--Sheet l.

(No Model.)

T.YSTURGE0N. MAGHNBRY PoR GOMPRBSS'ING AIR.

Pa-tentd Apr.'17, ls.

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y NITE THOMAS STURGEON, OF NEVLAY GROVE, HORSFORTH, NEAR LEEDS, COUNTY OF YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GAL\VEY& BAINBBIDGE, OF WAR- nINGToN, ENGLAND.

MACHINERY FOR CoMPREsslNe AIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 275,959, dated April 17, 1883.

Application filed April 3, 1882. (No model.) Patented in England July 18, 1878, No. 2,873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS STURGEON, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, of Newla-y Grove, Horsforth, near Leeds, in the county of York, in that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, engineer, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machinery for Compressing Air or other Gaseous Fluids, and also for exhausting the same, (for which I have obtained Letters Patent for Great Britain, N o. 2,873, dated July 1S, 1878;) and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of my invention,sutticient to enable others skilled in the art to'which it belongs to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying sheets of drawings, and to the let-ters and gures of reference marked thereon, which letters and igures of reference correspond with those used in this specification, like letters and figures being used to denote the same or corresponding parts throughout the various views.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section ot' an air-compressor according to my invention in which the seat of the inlet-valve is so placed in the piston that the valve remains stationary while the piston is moved away from it to the extent of the opening a1- lowed to the valve. Fig. 2 is an end view of the piston. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of an air-compressor according to my invention in which the piston remains stationary while the valve is moved away from it to the extent of the opening allowed. Fig. 4E is a longitudinal section of an air-compressor according to my invention, being a duplex form of the aircompressor shown at Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of an aircompressor according to my invention showing another arrangement ot' duplex air-compressor of the form shown at Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a plan of Fig. 5..

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section ot' an air-compressor according to my invention showing` another and further arrangement of duplex air-compressor of the form shown at Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section of an air-compressor according to my invention showing a' l still further arrangement of duplex air-compressor of the form shown at Fig. 1.

The nature,operatiou, and various modited forms of my invention will be understood from the following description of the different tigures of the drawings, the points of noveltybeing embraced in the claims concluding the specification.

In Fig. 1 ofthe drawings, Ais the cylinder, in which works the piston B, to which the connecting-rod C is attached,themotion being imparted by the revolving shaft D, carrying the disk E and crank-pin F.

G is the inlet-valve, which is supported in its place and guided by the pins H H, which pass through the holes I I I I. (Seen in the enlarged end view ofthe piston, Fig. 2.) The valve G is also supported by the central pin, It. These holes pass through the ribs which connect the outer ring, J, of the piston to-the central boss, K. The valve-seats are formed by the two concentric rings, ot' brass or gunmetal, (shown by the lines L L.) The edges of these rings are turned up to one surface after being fixed in their places, and the surface ot' the piston and ribs is below the surface of the edges of the rings. Thus the seating of a large annular valve is formed. The air is admitted through the spaces M M M between the ribs. The valve G, Fig. 1, is faced with one sheet ot india-rubber or other suitable material. N is the delivery-valve, guided and supported by the socket O. The spring P serves to keep the delivery-valve up toits seat before the pressure of air risessuiciently for that purpose. The nuts Q, Q act as stops to regulate the amount of opening allowed to the valve. Again, I so arrange the piston and inlet-valve that the piston remains stationary while the valve is moved away from or up to its seating therein. In this case the piston containing the valve-seat is loose and free to move to and from the valve,the valve being attached directly to the piston-rod or connecting-rod, which imparts its motion directly thereto, while the piston remains vstationary at the commencement of each stroke until the valve is brought up to its seat, or to a stop,

which limits its travel, after which the piston be used, each trunk in this case being made so is pushed by the valve to the end of its stroke.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of a machine constructed according to this description, B being the piston, G the valve, and Q the stop or nut which regulates the amount of opening allowed to the valve. The delivery-valve N is of the same construction as already described.

In further carrying out my invention I employ two sin gle-acting compressing or exhausting cylinders, fixed with their axes in one straight line, so that their two pistons may be fixed on the one piston-rod, and I use this arrangement of cylinders and pistons in conjunction with lnyimproved arrangements of valves.

When two cylinders are used, as above described, the arrangements may be varied as follows. The pistons may be con nected together on one piston-rod, and the two valves may also be connected together; but there must be just suficient diii'erence between the distance of the seats apart and the distance of the valves apart to allow for the necessary lift of the valves. In this case the seat of one valve acts as a stop to regulate the lift of the other valve.

Fig.4 is a longitudinal section ot' a machine constructed in this manner. B B are the two pistons, working in the cylinders A A and connected together by thepiston-rod C', which passes through the tube C, which connects the two valves G G together, the distance of the valves apart being a little short of the valve-seats LL in the pistons. These pistons are made hollow and are connected to the central bosses, K K, by ribs. The valve-faces are ma'de by india-rubber rings, which are secured in their places by rings and bolts. The pistonrod C' passes through and is connected to the central bosses ot' the pistons, and motion is imparted thereto by means of the driving-shaft, crank, and connectingrod. The tube connecting the valves passes through glands or stuffingboxesinthehollowendsN. Oneofthesehollow ends is shown in section and the other in outside view. These hollow ends also contain the delivery -valves, one of which is shown at N. These delivery-valves may be made of indiarubber strengthened by rings of metal bolted on both sides, the metal rings being put on in segments, so as to allow of' sufficient flexibility for opening and closing the valve. N 2 N2 are the discharge-branches, which are connected together by the bridge-pipe. This arrangement might also be varied so that the driving motion may be applied direct to the valves, in which case the valves and pistons would be such as shown in Fig. 3, the valves being connected together by a'rod and the pistons by the tube; or the two pistons might be independent of each other, the amount of lift of the valves being regulated by stops on the rod which connects the two valves together; or, conversely,the pistons might be connected and the valves loose on the rod; or two independent valves-such as shown in Fig. 1-might long that when it is pushed into the cylinder as far as it will go there will still be a certain length projecting outside the open end of the cylinder, and on these projecting parts lugs are formed, by means of which/the pistons are connected together by side rods passing along the outsides of the cylinders. In this case no central piston-rod is required, and therefore delivery valves like that shown in Fig. 1 may be used; or, in place ot' two pistons, a double-ended ram may be used in conjunction with my improved valve arrangements, the cylinders in this case being open at one end and fixed with their open ends toward each other, as shown in longitudinal section in Fig. 5 and in plan 'in Fig. 6. The ram B is made hollow, and is provided with the openings M M, through which the air is admitted. The driving motion is transmitted to the ram from the revolving crank E through the forked connecting-rod C. Brackets support and guide the rod G2, to which the inlet-valves are attached. N N are the delivery-valves. This plan, with the double-ended-ram, may also be so arranged that the driving motion may be applied direct to the valves, in which case the valves should be arranged on the inner sides ofthe ends ot' the ram, the valves being somewhat similar to that shown in Fig. 3. The ends of the ram in this case should be made separate and fixed on after the valves are put in their places. The rod to which the valves are fixed may be carried through a gland in the hollow cover, the delivery-valves being arranged as shown in Fig. 4, and the driving motion may be applied to this rod.`

My improved arrangements of valves may also be applied to a hollow double-acting piston working in a cylinder closed at both ends, the air or gas being admitted to the interior of the piston, where the inlet-valves are situated, through a hollow piston-rod, or through tubes passing through the end covers, or through an opening in the side of the cylinder, the-hollow piston being in this case made wide enough to allow ot' the full travel without overrunning the openingin the side. This arrangement is specially suitable for exhausting.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 7 the air is admitted through a hollow piston-rod, C', which has openings M Mcommunicating with the interior of the hollow piston B. The valve-seats L L are fixed in the'piston, and the piston is fixed on the hollow rod. G G are two inlet-valves, which are furnished with 'long bosses running loosely on the piston-rod.

These two valves are connected together by the rods H H; or vthe piston may be loose `within the cylinder, and the inlet-valves situated inside the piston and connected to the hollow piston-rod. When this arrangement is to be used as an air-compressor the end of the hollow piston is simply left open, as shown at the end T; but if it is to be used as an exhauster the hollow piston-rod should pass IOO IIO

through a gland in the chamber containing the gas to be exhausted, or in the end of a pipe communicating with this chamber, as shown at the end S. NNare the hollow covers of the cylinder containing the glands and delivery-valves.

In Fig. 8 the air is admitted into the interior ofthe long hollow piston B B through an opening, M, in the cylinder, the hollow piston being long enough in this case to prevent it overrunning this opening, and being furnished with a long opening, through which the air enters after being admitted at M2. G G are the inlet-valves, furnished with long bosses riding loosely on the piston-rod C2, to which the piston is fixed. H H are the rods connecting the two inlet-valves together. Recesses should be formed in the cylinder-covers corresponding in shape to the long bosses of the valves G G, so that the valves may run close up to the inside of the cylinder-covers. M2 is the pipe leading from the chamber to be exhausted. When the apparatus is used for compressing air only this pipe would not ot' course be required.

The arrangements shown in Figs. 7 and 8 are the most suitable for exhausting, and when used for exhausting only they may be furnished with delivery-valves of the common at form, as shown at T T', Fig. S. When used for compressing they should be furnished with hollow covers, as shown at N N, Fig. 8, c ontaining delivery-valves.

In all cases the compressing-cylinders are surrounded by a Water-jacket in the usual manner for the purpose of cooling.

Having thus described my invention,Iclaim and desire to secure by Letters Patent-- An apparatus to compress or exhaust air, consisting substantially of a cylinder, A, oontaining a hollow piston, B, havinga receivingvalve, G, carried by a central pin and socket, R, and y checked by screw-rods H, combined with a delivery-valve, N, in the head ot' the cylinder, and having a central bearing operating in a socket, O, made on the deliveringnozzle, and held by a counterspring, l), wrapped around the socket in the nozzle, the several parts coacting substantially as described.

THOMAS STURGEON.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK J oHN GHEEsBRoUGH, JOHN HAMILTON REDMOND,

Both of 15 Water Street, Liverpool, England. 

